Computer game outfit Rockstar has come up with a method to tackle cheaters which was first used in the 18th century by the British to deal with criminals.

The British, faced with crimes being bought on by over population, decided to pack off people to the colonies. It was difficult for anyone to cause trouble if they were locked up with other criminals in Australia.

Rockstar is fed up with a small minority of players are spoiling the Max Payne 3 multiplayer game for honest players with cheats and hacks. So what it is doing is that anyone found to have used hacked saves, modded games, or other exploits to gain an unfair advantage in Max Payne 3 Multiplayer, or to circumvent the leaderboards will be quarantined from all other players into a "Cheaters Pool".

They will only be allowed to compete in multiplayer matches with other confirmed miscreants. So in other words transportation.

A blindingly obvious survey from which we read in the journal Sexuality & Culture, which we get for the pictures, claims that "sexting" or having cyber sex is a pre-curser to having an affair. Authored by University of Nebraska at Kearny professor Diane Kholos Wysocki and Washburn University associate professor Cheryl Childers, the paper examines the behaviours of those who frequent an online dating site dedicated to extra-marital affairs.

While there is a belief that people who are conducting cyber relationships are just looking for an ego boost those who take part want to hook up in real life. The researchers found that of the 5,187 adults who answered the survey, women were more likely than men to engage in the researchers' definition of "sexting" with people outside their marriage. The female 25-29 age group having the highest incidence of sexting and they are more than 1.3 times more likely to send nude photos of themselves than men.

More than two-thirds of respondents said they had "cheated" with someone solely online, while three quarters confirmed that they successfully cheated in real life as a result. There appeared to be no gender differences when it came to real-life cheating.

Cheating does not decrease by age, in fact it is the complete opposite. Cheating in real-life also increases for females, but only through the 30s, then begins to decrease a bit." Only 13 percent reported a negative impact on their primary relationships thanks to their infidelity, though 25 percent said they weren't sure of the impact.

One of the best predictors for developing an extramarital relationship was engaging in cybersex, which often followed on from sexting. Men and woman who have cybersex is twice more likely to have an affair.

Are you one of those accounts that have been identified by Blizzard as using unauthorized hacks or mods to cheat at StarCraft II? Well, Blizzard takes cheating seriously, and they have issued a warning to cheaters that they are going to deal with the behavior. ‘Dealing with it’ likely means (at the very least) account suspensions for those tagged for bending the rules.

Blizzard has reminded players of StarCraft II that, as with Warcraft, they are not kidding and will use the ban hammer to make their point; this means that banned players will not be able to log into their battle.net accounts and thus they will not be able to play the game.

Of course, using hacks or modifications of any type is a violation of the battle.net agreement and violates Blizzard policy. Playing StarCraft II means you need to be playing the game with a vanilla install of the gaming client; doing otherwise will bring the wrath of Blizzard upon you.

Sources suggest that Blizzard will be moving quickly in the next couple of days to deal with cheaters. If you don’t want to get banned, you had best turn over a new leaf and stop cheating; or face the ban hammer. It is your choice.

THQ’s Cory Ledesma has in no uncertain terms cleared up the company’s stance on buying used games, calling it cheating in the process.

He said how every time someone purchases a used THQ game, they “get cheated”. Furthermore, he hopes that people will understand this and won’t be disappointed. However, judging by initial user reactions, these might turn out to be high hopes indeed.

Curiously enough, in a wonderful display of double standards, the company who just called for users’ understanding is keen to announce how it’s virtually devoid of any sympathy or understanding for users who buy a used THQ game. In fact, Ledesma says how "if used game buyers are upset they don't get the online feature set I don't really have much sympathy for them".

So, the fact that some individuals might not have the cash to splash out on the full deal is obviously not something THQ deems worthy of sympathy, yet it's quick to call for sympathy when things don't go their way.